Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Atticus on display in Saudi Arabia for the first time

For the first time outside of Italy, Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus will be displayed at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, the museum’s Director Alberto Rocca announced Thursday.

The event, titled Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibition – Codex Atlanticus through Time and Space, marks a “meeting point between the great culture of Saudi arabia... with some excellence that comes from Italy with the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci”

The Codex Atticus is a bound set of drawings and writings that covered a variety of subjects, including musical instruments, mathematics and botany.

“In Saudi Arabia for the first time, we have the chance to watch the works of Leonardo da Vinci, to show how we can connect an artist of the Renaissance with a [contemporary] artist,” Exhibit Curator Marcello Smarrelli said.

Under the theme of energy, the exhibition showcases 1,400 years-worth of artwork that begins with pieces from the Arab golden age to several of da Vinci’s artworks and ends with a display of contemporary works.

According to the center’s Head of Communications Ashraf Fagih, the exhibit is meant to highlight “the important role that the Arab civilization played in connecting the Ancient Greek civilization with Europe’s civilization during the Renaissance period.”

The exhibition will be open to art lovers across the region until the end of March.